commencementnoun
uk/kəˈmens.mənt/us/kəˈmens.mənt/[ C or U ] formal the beginning of something:
Would passengers please turn off their mobile phones before the commencement of the flight.
[ C ] US a ceremony at which students formally receive their degrees
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Beginnings and starts
- a baptism of/by fire idiom
- a clean sheet/slate idiom
- advent
- baptism
- beginning
- clean
- inception
- initiation
- institution
- introduction
- jumping-off point
- onset
- seed
- square
- starting time
- the outset
- the thin end of the wedge idiom
- thin
- trigger
- zero hour
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Ceremonies